Deverry
This is an article about the lands of Deverry encompassing the kingdoms of Deverry, Eldidd and Pyrdon. For information about the Kingdom, see Kingdom of Deverry. Deverry, though at first referring specifically to the Kingdom of Deverry proper, has come to refer to all the lands settled by the Deverrians in Annwn. History Before the coming of the Deverrians, the lands that now make up Deverry were populated by the Bondsfolk, which were driven away or became serfs or slaves to the Deverrians when they settled there. The Deverrians first reached Deverry around year 0 (the calendar being based on the founding of Dun Deverry by King Bran.) Today the main parts of Deverry are the Kingdom of Deverry, Eldidd and Pyrdon. Eldidd and Pyrdon were created separately by splintering factions from the Kingdom of Deverry but were finally brought into the Kingdom of Deverry in 855 at the end of The Time of Troubles. Apart from Humans, there is also a small dwarven settlement founded by refugees from The Deverrian Invasion that is unknown to most. Geography In the south it reaches the shores of The Southern Sea, to the east and north it is bordered by the great mountain chains extending from The Roof of the World, and to the west, it borders The Westlands. It is a country of many waterways and is in great part covered by forests. People Deverrians live under a patriarchal feudal system, where nobility is highly praised and the nobles look down their noses at craftsmen, merchants and anyone else beneath their station. Even lower in the hierarchy are the bondsfolk. Up until recently, war was the exclusive concern of the nobility, and the introduction of pikemen and archers was seen as a great affront to the traditional system. This system exists in most parts of Deverry and the rules of honour and nobility to a great extent affects the situation of the common people, though outright war has become less common due to a strong central power. Men have more legal rights than women, and most inheritances go through the male line. Few women are heads of households. Religion Main article: Religion Deverrians follow a pantheon of gods, led by Bel (who also has the strongest priesthood), with many smaller gods and temples which are respected by most. Religion and the power of the priesthoods play a large part in Deverrian culture, and even the followers of the Dweomer sometimes consult them, either for lore or for help in getting omens. The dominance of the standard Deverrian gods has recently been challenged by the worship of the goddess Alshandra. Apart from dealing with the main religions, Deverrians can also be superstitious and believe in phenomona of varying truthfulness such as Wildfolk and special days such as Beltane, when the spirit world and physical world are supposed to be close to one another. Bards are also seen as holy in Deverrian culture, and to draw a weapon against a bard is one of the most impious deeds one can commit. Language Deverrian belongs to the Celtic group of the Indo-European language family. It is derived from Gaulish, to which some of the changes which affected the modern Brythonic languages (Welsh, Cornish, and Breton) are applied. Deverrian is thus a highly naturalistic a posteriori kind of artificial language (in contrast to e.g. Tolkien's Elvish languages). Kerr provides some explicit information about the language, particularly its phonology, in the introduction of her Deverry books. Vowels Vowels are long in stressed syllables, and short in unstressed syllables. The vowel y, however, will always be long when it is the last letter in a word. Diphthongs Note that oi is never a diphthong, and represents two separate sounds: oʊ.ɪ Consonants Consonants are much the same as English, with the following exceptions: *c always represents the sound /k/, never /s/. *g always represents the sound /g/, never /dʒ/. *dd is a single letter, and represents the voiced sound /ð/. * The unvoiced sound /θ/ will always be spelled with th. *r seems to be a trill (/r/), rather than an approximant (/ɹ/). *rh is a voiceless r (/r̥/). In Eldidd province, it is almost indistinguishable from r. It is pronounced with a puff of breath before the r, in Deverry Proper it could be spelled as hr. * w is the consonant /w/ when it follows d, g, or t. Note the following rules: Doubled consonants are both pronounced. Primary stress is generally on the penultimate syllable, though placenames and compound words are often the exception. Category:Annwn